Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Presidents don't salute

In the 24 hour news world, domestic abuse, particularly athlete and
celebrity domestic abuse is the theme of the week. It's likely to
remain so until the abuse stories become so minor it becomes necessary
to manufacture them or until some other chew toy is tossed to the media
by circumstances. What that will be, which of many will be picked up by CNN or Fox as the gonfallon of the next cycle is hard to predict.

Today's prime candidate for our next obsession is the video clip of

Obama exiting a helicopter and saluting the marine guard with a cup of
coffee in his hand. The local Fox outlet took time out from covering
wars and calamities and domestic abuse stories to discuss the implied
disrespect for the people who sacrifice for "our freedom" or get dressed
up to help the president off a helicopter, which ever comes first.

One
characteristic of the news in our time is that we get enough
information to prop up the theme of the story but never nearly enough to
let you speculate on how it fits into the big picture. Surprise
surprise, presidents saluting the military is rather new to be calling
it a tradition. I believe it started with Reagan, who of course served
WW II in Hollywood. Some nations forbid saluting while "uncovered" or
not wearing a hat. According to Marine protocol:

" Marines do not render the hand salute when out of uniform or when uncovered."

Whether
or not an "uncovered" or out of uniform president, or any other
civilian is required to return such a salute is open to interpretation . There is no universal
rule and one must remember commuting by helicopter is as common as
driving to work or taking the bus is for the rest of us -- not much of a
public ceremony. There is no rule about doing something because Reagan's PR people told Reagan to do it.

"The gesture is of course quite wrong: Such a salute has always required the wearing of a uniform. It represents an exaggeration of the president's military role."
Wrote author and historian John Lukacs wrote in The New York Times in 2003 when Bush was in the White house and it was un-American to criticize the Warpresident..

It
does seem that saluting with a cup of coffee seems a bit thoughtless or
impolitic, or while talking on the telephone -- even if you're talking
to Putin or scheduling an attack on Syria, but that alone doesn't
sufficiently serve the cause of providing fodder for the Obamabashers.
We have to call it a "latte" because coffee with milk in it isn't as
funny or as easy a target for scorn. We must not mention or take note
that when Bush saluted with a dog under his arm or when Eisenhower
didn't salute at all we didn't melt into a puddle of contempt on the
floor. We must not question the fact that the president is a civilian and
doesn't have a uniform to wear even if he is a commander in chief or
ask whether he's subject to military protocols. This is Obama we're
talking about and this is the man we must impugn and impede and insult
whether the nation is at peril. or not.